End-User Monitoring of Global Applicationsat Russell Reynolds Associates

Kareen Kircher

Platform Architect,

Application Development

September 26th, 2013

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Topics

About Russell Reynolds Associates About our Department Our APM Search Strategy/Requirements AppDynamics in a .NET environment Mitigation Strategies for Adoption Concerns

- Indirect Injection - Disable & Service vs. Environment Variable- https in adrum.js (mixed mode)

Custom EUM Deployment- For future maintenance, use separate paths for geo properties file- Seoul – JSON needs to be fixed.

Tips and Tricks - GeoServer- mySQL DB- Additional memory

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ABOUT RUSSELL REYNOLDS ASSOCIATES

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About RRA

RRA- Premier retained executive search firm- 40+ offices around the world- 800 Beacon Application users

Distributed Technology Team- New York- London- Frankfurt

Beacon- Developed by mix of FT & Consultants- Proprietary approach which gives us an edge in industry- Desktop app Web migration- Architectural concerns- Visibility of performance issues/Reporting

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ABOUT RRA INFORMATION SYSTEMS

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About IS

Distributed Technology Team- New York- London- Frankfurt

Application Stakeholders- Developers – mix of technology concentration- Ops – different skillsets from Devs- Business Analysts/Training Team – closest to end users- Management/Execs – high level “need-to-know” regarding Performance and

Stability Plans- DBAs – Deeper visibility into transactional issues- New Employees/Consultants – fast start to understand application architecture

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APM SEARCH STRATEGY

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APM Search Strategy

Drawbacks of Original Tool- Steep learning curve- Useful for Ops, not anyone else- Simulated transactions- Dozens of man-hours to set up- After setup, no data for up to 1.5 days, depending on volume of data- Thin OOTB reporting capabilities; most desired metrics require report writing

Criteria met and Features by only AppDynamics Tool- Tool that would meet a substantial portion of all stakeholders’ needs- Ease of setup, with minimal training- Speed and visualization of data- Application Flowmap enables faster onboarding of new hires- Ability to view both Application and Environment details

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STRATEGIES FOR ADOPTION CONCERNS

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Adoption Concerns

Concerns- Beta product instability- Distinguish between application performance and AppDynamics impact- Rollback without uninstalling

For MVC apps with Razor Engine- Add adrum.js to the scripts root of your web project- Create EnableAppDynamics key in web.config’s AppSettings key to enable/disable.- Use key in loading adrum.js in cshtml files

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Adoption Concerns – *Layout.cshtmlInvoke a ScriptLoader…

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Adoption Concerns – ScriptLoader.cshtmlInjection based on AppSettings Value

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CUSTOM EUM DEPLOYMENT

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Custom EUM Deployment – Mapping File

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Custom EUM Deployment – GeoServer Map – North America

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Custom EUM Deployment – GeoServer Map – Europe

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Custom EUM Deployment – GeoServer Map – Asia Pacific

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MYSQL TIPS & TRICKS

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Geo Server Setup Tips

Use 1 GeoServer per Domain

If a brand new machine, download and install the latest JRE with Java 6 or later.

If using the Controller host, point JRE_HOME to the JRE bundled with AppDynamics.

Install Tomcat as a service; if using the controller host, first shut down the AppDynamics application server.

DO NOT place your mapping file in the web container!

Edit %CATALINA_HOME%\webapps\geo\WEB-INF\web.xml to edit the 2 parameters below which appear in Unix format by default:- For logs.dir, enter D:\AppDynamics\geo\logs- For ip.mapping.config, enter D:\AppDynamics\geo\local-map.xml

Contact me for user-friendly step-by-step instructions in a .NET environment.

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mySQL Maintenance Tips in Windows Environment

Memory- Adding RAM? Remember to increase the value of the innodb_buffer_pool_size

parameter by the additional RAM in %Root%:\AppDynamics\Controller\db\db.cnf.- More cache = More time needed to shut down mySQL. Check DB log to confirm

that the process terminated successfully, before rebooting.

Disable Windows Search.

Configure Windows Update to download, but not install automatically.

Exclude Database path from virus scan (%Root%)\AppDynamics\Controller\db).- Avoid locking DB files.- Data corruption highly likely if this coincides with the Controller performing space

management by partitioning the tables.

When applying updates, shut down Application Server and DB services. When done, restore services.

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Wish List…

Logging, not just listing of client-side java script errors

Configure Windows Update to download, but not install automatically.

Clean up App Server Region

Ghost locations in EUM